LIVE EVENTThe Beginnings of Video Games

Live Skype discussion with Ralph Baer and demonstration of Tennis for Two

Ralph Baer was one of the key figures in the invention of the video game, with his Brown Box prototype, which led to the development of the first video game home console, the Magnavox Odyssey. And before Baer’s breakthrough, there was William A. Higinbotham’s legendary analog computer game Tennis for Two, a simulation of a game of tennis on an oscilloscope.

At this special event, there will be a live discussion about the beginnings of video games, with Ralph Baer joining by Skype, and a demonstration of the Brown Box console. Following this will be an extremely rare live demonstration of Tennis for Two by Brookhaven National Laboratory scientists and curators of the William A. Higinbotham Game Studies Collection at Stony Brook University. Audience members will then be invited to play Tennis for Two.